Could it be, that there will be no A580 in UK shops by Christmas? I'm just thinking to upgrade from my A230, but it's hard to find trusted stores who still sell it, the only one i found was Jessops. Rest of them are imports from Hong Kong or elsewhere.

A580 looks fantastic. I've been strongly considering one to replace my A550 - but I was holding off long enough to get a little more news about the A77. I'm close to a decision now - but I still need to see official samples from the production A77 before I can decide. I love many of the things the A77 brings to the table, but I have a few worries on high ISO performance, EVF, and battery life that I need to figure out first - if the A77 ends up not being able to solve those issues in my mind, I'll be hunting for an A580 right away. They are getting hard to find even in the states, but hopefully can still be tracked down ordering online.

I'm considering Nikon D5100, but is it better then A580? As i like to take photos of pets, so ISO performance is important. I do like D5100, but no original battery grip is available, and lenses are more expensive in some cases.